Tarot Glossary
Shuffling and Cutting
Shuffling a tarot deck randomises the card order before a reading, and cutting divides the shuffled deck and reassembles it. Riffle, overhand, and wash shuffles all work. The method matters for two practical reasons rather than any mystical one: how quickly it wears out the cards, and whether it produces reversed cards at all.
The three methods
A riffle shuffle splits the deck and interleaves the halves. It randomises fast and is hard on tarot cards, whose larger format creases more readily than playing cards. An overhand shuffle drops small packets from one hand to the other; it is gentle on the deck and slow to randomise, needing far more repetitions than most readers give it. A wash, spreading the cards face down on a table and swirling them, randomises thoroughly, is easy on the cards, and is the only one of the three that reorients cards naturally.
How much shuffling is actually enough
This has a real answer. Work on card shuffling in probability theory found that around seven riffle shuffles are needed to properly randomise a 52-card deck, and a 78-card tarot deck needs somewhat more. Overhand shuffling is dramatically less efficient, requiring dozens of passes to approach the same result. Most readers shuffle for far less time than that, which means real decks retain traces of their previous order: worth knowing if you have just come from a reading and are laying out another.
Reversals are a choice you make while shuffling
A riffle or overhand shuffle never rotates a card. If that is all you do, every card stays upright forever, and a deck that has never been reoriented cannot produce a reversal no matter how long you shuffle. Readers who work with reversals introduce them deliberately: washing the cards on a table, rotating one half before reassembling, or turning a portion of the deck after cutting. Readers who do not work with reversals simply avoid those steps. Either choice is fine; making it by accident is not.
Cutting
Cutting divides the shuffled deck and restacks it, traditionally in three piles reassembled left to right. Mathematically a single cut adds almost nothing to a well-shuffled deck. Its actual function is procedural: it marks the end of shuffling and the beginning of the reading, and when you are reading for someone else it gives them a point of physical contact with the deck. Both of those are worth something even though neither is randomisation.
Shuffling and Cutting in practice
- Wash-shuffle on a table if you want reversals and want your deck to last. It is the gentlest method and the only one that reorients cards on its own.
- If you riffle, expect visible wear on the edges within a year of regular use.
- Shuffle longer than feels necessary: most people stop well before a 78-card deck is genuinely randomised.
- Decide once whether you read reversals, then shuffle consistently with that decision. Occasional accidental reversals are the worst of both options.
The common misreading
Often said: There is a correct way to shuffle tarot cards, and shuffling wrongly invalidates the reading.
More accurately: No shuffling method is more valid than another; they differ in how fast they randomise and how hard they are on the cards. The only choice with a real consequence for the reading is whether your method can produce reversals, because a deck that is never reoriented will never give you one. Beyond that, a reader who shuffles for thirty seconds in silence and a reader who shuffles for five minutes are working with the same deck.
Shuffling and Cutting: frequently asked questions
How do you shuffle tarot cards?
Any standard method works: riffle (splitting and interleaving), overhand (dropping packets between hands), or a wash (spreading the cards face down and swirling them). The wash is gentlest on oversized tarot cards and is the only method that naturally reorients cards, so it is the usual choice for readers who work with reversals.
How many times should you shuffle a tarot deck?
More than most people do. Probability work on shuffling found roughly seven riffle shuffles are needed to randomise 52 cards, and 78 cards need somewhat more; overhand shuffling needs dozens of passes to get close. If you want the order genuinely randomised rather than merely disturbed, keep going past the point where it feels sufficient.
How do you get reversed cards when shuffling?
You have to introduce them on purpose, because riffle and overhand shuffles never rotate a card. Spread the deck face down and swirl it, or rotate one half of the deck before reassembling after a cut. Without one of these steps a deck will stay entirely upright indefinitely.
Does someone else need to cut the deck?
No. A cut adds almost nothing to randomisation in a well-shuffled deck. Its value when reading for someone else is procedural and human. It gives the querent contact with the deck and marks the transition from shuffling to reading. Reading for yourself, you can cut or not.
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